Poached plum and ripe red berries, with soft vanilla and a hint of spice
Palate
Rich and fruity, with plum, berries and sweet malt, warmed by cinnamon
Finish
Smooth and gently spiced, with lingering red fruit
About this whisky
Jura Cabernet Sauvignon Cask is one of the newest additions to Jura’s Cask Editions range. It takes the distillery’s smooth, balanced island single malt and finishes it in select Cabernet Sauvignon red wine casks, adding a rich, fruity layer of poached plum and ripe berries with a warming touch of cinnamon.
Bottled at 40% ABV in a 70cl bottle, it’s an easy-drinking, unpeated whisky that’s full of flavour without being heavy. It’s a great choice if you enjoy red wine, fruity single malts, or simply want something a little different from the usual bourbon and sherry styles.
Jura Cabernet Sauvignon Cask Tasting Notes
Nose: Poached plum and ripe red berries, with soft vanilla and a hint of spice.
Palate: Rich and fruity, with layers of plum, berries and sweet malt, warmed by cinnamon.
Finish: Smooth and gently spiced, with lingering red fruit.
Jura sums up the flavour as layers of poached plum, ripe berries and warming cinnamon. It’s fruity and balanced rather than smoky. There’s no peat here.
What Does a Cabernet Sauvignon Cask Add?
Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world’s best-known red wine grapes, famous for deep, dark-fruited wines from places like Bordeaux. When a whisky is “finished” in a cask that held this wine, it spends its final months of maturation soaking up some of the flavour left in the wood.
Fruit: plum, blackcurrant and red berries from the wine.
Spice: a warming, cinnamon-like edge from the wine-seasoned oak.
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Texture and colour:
a slightly richer feel in the mouth and a warmer, deeper colour.
The finish doesn’t make the whisky taste like wine. It adds a fruity, rounded layer on top of Jura’s own smooth malt character.
Jura’s Cask Editions
Jura’s Cask Editions range explores different cask finishes from around the world, each chosen to suit the distillery’s fruity, balanced house style. The range has included bourbon, rum, red wine, Cognac and festive winter editions, and the Cabernet Sauvignon Cask is the latest to join. Each one gives you the same smooth island malt with a different personality, so they’re fun to compare side by side.
The Isle of Jura and Its Distillery
Jura lies a few miles off Scotland’s west coast, just north-east of Islay. It’s one of the wildest and least populated islands in Scotland: around 200 people share it with roughly 5,000 red deer, and there’s famously one road, one pub and one distillery. The island’s name is often said to come from the Old Norse for “deer island”.
The distillery sits in Craighouse, the island’s only village, right beside the sea. Its story goes back to 1810, when the Laird of Jura, Archibald Campbell, founded it. Over the following century it was restored, then fell out of use and was dismantled around 1900. In the 1950s, two estate owners, Robin Fletcher and Tony Riley-Smith, decided to bring distilling back to give the islanders work. The rebuilt distillery reopened in 1963, with taller stills designed to make a lighter, cleaner spirit than the smoky malts of nearby Islay.
Jura is now owned by Whyte & Mackay. The island also has a literary claim to fame: George Orwell wrote much of Nineteen Eighty-Four while living at Barnhill, a remote farmhouse at the island’s northern end, and once described Jura as “extremely un-get-at-able”.
How to Enjoy Jura Cabernet Sauvignon Cask
Neat: the best way to pick out the plum, berries and cinnamon.
With a drop of water or an ice cube: softens it further and brings the fruit forward.
In a highball: top up with ginger ale and add a slice of orange for a fruity, spiced long drink.
With food: try it with dark chocolate, a cheese board with hard cheeses, or a berry dessert.
Who Is It For?
This is a smooth, approachable single malt for anyone who likes fruity, easy-going whisky, and a natural choice for red wine lovers who are curious about Scotch. It’s also a great-value gift, especially for someone who already enjoys Jura and wants to try something new from the range.
Similar Whiskies You Might Enjoy
If you like this fruity, cask-finished style, try these:
Jura Caribbean Rum Cask: another Jura Cask Edition, finished in rum casks for tropical fruit, vanilla and sweet spice.
Jura 14 Year Old: an older, richer Jura with a finish in American rye whiskey casks.
Aberlour 12 Year Old Double Cask: an unpeated Speyside malt with rich red fruit and toffee from sherry and traditional oak casks.
What does Jura Cabernet Sauvignon Cask taste like?
Fruity and balanced, with poached plum, ripe berries and warming cinnamon over Jura’s smooth, malty base.
Is Jura Cabernet Sauvignon Cask peated?
No. It’s an unpeated, fruit-led single malt with no smoky character.
What is a Cabernet Sauvignon cask finish?
After its main maturation, the whisky is moved into casks that previously held Cabernet Sauvignon red wine. This final stage adds red fruit, spice and a richer texture.
Is it the same as Jura Red Wine Cask?
No. They’re separate Cask Editions. This bottling names the grape, Cabernet Sauvignon, and is a newer release in the range.
How old is Jura Cabernet Sauvignon Cask?
It has no age statement. The whisky is chosen for flavour rather than a set number of years.
Where is Jura whisky made?
At the Jura Distillery in Craighouse, on the Isle of Jura off Scotland’s west coast. It belongs to the Islands whisky region.
